Jerusalem Stands Alone
By turns bleak, nostalgic, and lighthearted, Jerusalem Stands Alone explores the interconnected lives of its mostly Palestinian cast. This series of quick-moving vignettes tells the story of occupied Jerusalem―tales of the daily tribulations and personal revelations of its narrators. The stories, entwined around themes of family and identity, diverge in viewpoint and chronology but ultimately unite to reveal the tapestry of Palestinian Jerusalem. The settings evoke the past―churches, alleys, and people who are gone but whose spirits yearn to be remembered. The characters are sons and mothers, soldiers and wives, all of whom unveil themselves in sometimes poignant, sometimes bittersweet memories. As its history rises up through the present struggles and hopes of its people, the deepest, most personal layers of Jerusalem are revealed.
Intricately weaving past and present, humour and pain, love and loss, Jerusalem Stands Alone is a beautiful homage to a living, breathing city so often reduced to nothing more than a pawn in political games.-- "Middle East Monitor"
Shukair tenderly and brilliantly explores the city's deep soul, through gorgeous lyrical portraits of its inhabitants. Poets will love this book. Reading it feels like a healing. . . . Jerusalem Stands Alone will be the enduring truth, not the pitiful passing news.-- "Naomi Shihab Nye, author of 19 Varieties of Gazelle: Poems of the Middle East"
Shukair's literary work is an elegant reflection of Jerusalem as a place called 'home' in the eyes of Palestinians who are living there. Fares' professional translation into English is an enhancement to this reflection, preserving the lyrical flow of the original work.-- "Middle East Librarians Association"
